Describer

Describer is a noun for an entity that provides descriptions of objects, events, or data. The term is used across disciplines to denote someone or something that makes characteristics or qualities explicit, often translating perception into communicable form. Describers may operate in natural language, visuals, or other modalities.

In human contexts, describers include researchers, journalists, educators, and tour guides who describe phenomena, processes, or artworks. Describing can be objective or interpretive and may require selecting salient features, avoiding unnecessary bias, and tailoring descriptions to the audience’s needs and prior knowledge.

In accessibility, a describer refers to a person or automated system that provides descriptions for people who are blind or visually impaired. An image describer or audio describer creates verbal descriptions of images, videos, or scenes to convey essential content and context and to support understanding and engagement.

In computing and data science, a describer can be a software component that generates natural-language descriptions from data or code. Data-to-text systems, narrative-generation tools, and reporting modules act as describers by summarizing datasets, experimental results, or software behavior. These systems often use templates, machine learning models, and user preferences to shape the descriptions.

In linguistics and communication studies, the term can refer to the role of an utterance or the speaker who provides a description within discourse, helping to ground listeners and clarify shared meanings. See also description, descriptor, data-to-text, and audio description.